


pictures of you

by Jelly



Series: wholesome truths [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen, fic requests, pc-the-unicorn, who am I kidding I'm still trash for this ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 18:01:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17872094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jelly/pseuds/Jelly
Summary: Callum keeps his sketchbook to himself.[For tumblr user pc-the-unicorn who asked for Rayla finding pictures of herself in Callum's sketchbook].





	pictures of you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tumblr user pc-the-unicorn](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=tumblr+user+pc-the-unicorn).



> "Here's an idea for a Rayllum fic. While resting for the night in a cave in Xadia, Rayla decides to take a look in Callum sketchbook. For the first couple of pages, she mostly sees drawings of Claudia along with other drawings like his mother and the dragon burning marshmallow man but as she goes further, she starts seeing more and more drawings of her with her feeling embarrassed but also honored over how many drawings there are of her in the journal."

pictures of you

 

 

Callum keeps his sketchbook to himself.

Rayla doesn’t really understand why. He’s good at art. She’s seen his sketches of his mother; of Phoe-phoe and the Moon Nexus; of Zym and Bait and Ezran. She’d even caught him drawing her once - she’d been sitting by the fire with Zym in her lap, and she’d caught the way his eyes flickered surreptitiously between her and the paper. He’d shown her when she asked - it was a little while ago now, but Rayla still remembers the way her face had heated and they way her stomach felt as if it had tied itself into knots over his image of her. It was just flattery, she’d told herself at the time - Callum’s version of her was pretty and smiling and happy, but between camping out in caves and sharing dingy rooms in Xadian inns, she can’t help but think that his version of her might be slightly inaccurate.

It’s not a commentary on his skill as an artist.

She just doubts that she looks like that in real life.

In all fairness though, she’s only ever seen that one. Art is Callum’s way of relaxing as much as it is his way of documenting their travels. He draws in his personal time because it’s really the only way for privacy when they’re living in such close quarters - he doesn’t ask to go with her on days she wanders off for some time alone, so she doesn’t ask to see his art unless he offers. It’s fair that way, she thinks.

Still, she wonders sometimes if there’s more of her in his sketchbook.

She wonders more if he’ll ever let her find out.

 

 

There are nights when the ground is too hard, or the air is too hot, or the rain is too loud, where Rayla finds it difficult to lie still and sleep. More often than not, she ends up by the window, or by the mouth of their cave, or, in tonight’s case, at the edge of a meadow, her back to the fire, her eyes looking over the stillness of the Xadian wood on the other side.

It’s dark tonight. The sky is clear, but the moon is new, and Rayla feels its absence the way she sometimes misses home. It’s a Moonshadow elf thing, she thinks. It’s not an active feeling so much as it is a longing in the back of her mind. There’s not really much she can do about it but wait for it to pass, so she sighs, breathes in the scent of Sweetgrass, and rests her chin on her knees as fireflies wink their lights at her in the dark.

It’s a lovely night. Secretly, she thinks it might be lovelier if she and Callum were here just to enjoy it, rather than because it’s such a convenient pitstop on their way to see the Dragon Queen.

She starts a little when something presses against her elbow, and Rayla blinks, finding Zym nosing her arms gently in a bid for attention. She chuckles. “Couldn’t sleep either?” she asks, letting her knees fall so he can climb into her lap. “You’re a needy wee thing, aren’t you? You’ll be too big for this soon, you know.”

He curls into her lap purposefully, as if he knows and he means to make the most of it while he can. Rayla laughs, scratching a spot behind his ears, enjoying the comfort of his weight and his gentle purr against her knees.

When she feels sleep gnawing at her at last, the fireflies have all gone, and she folds Zym into her chest, careful not to disturb him. She gets up with a soft groan and turns to find Callum, shifting uncomfortably in his sleep, his sketchbook lying closed by the fire.

She eyes it curiously as she sets Zym down again.

She could do it tonight. Flip through its pages. Find out what’s been on his mind.

But she glances at Callum, notes the tiniest of frowns on his sleeping face, and decides she’ll just ask him in the morning.

 

 

The closer they get to the Dragon Queen, the more time Callum spends with his nose in his book.

They’re on a mountain pass today. Twice already, Rayla’s had to steer him away from the edge of the road because he’s been too busy drawing to pay attention. Zym nips irritably at his hair from his place in Callum’s pack before he snorts and decides it’s probably just safer to be on Rayla’s shoulders when it happens a third.

It’s stress, she reasons. There’s a lot at stake here, and there’s every chance that the war between Xadia and the Pentarchy might keep going anyway, even after they get Zym home, even after everything that’s already happened.  The idea of the world afterwards is such a faraway concept that she’s barely had time to really think about until now.

It scares her too, honestly. Humans, despite their faults, their knack for violence, their money, their food, and their pettiness, aren’t so bad. They can be gentle, and brave, and caring, and _so_ , so kind - Callum had taught her that.

Where will she go, once this is all over and done with?

Where will Callum?

It’s a dumb question, really. He’ll go home, and she knows it. Ezran needs him. It’s not an answer for her, but she’s glad that at least he’ll get to keep changing the world the way he’s already changed hers.

She feels the hairs on the back of her neck tingle, and she glances around in time to see Callum snap his sketchbook shut.

He offers her an awkward grin as she catches his eye. “Everything okay?” he asks her.

“Yes…” she says slowly, frowning. “Is everything okay with _you_?”

“Yeah,” he says hurriedly, letting his sketchbook fall to its place by his side with a sheepish shrug. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

 

 

It’s raining the day Rayla realizes that she's in love with him.

Deep down, she thinks she’s always known, but allowing herself to admit to it ( _finally_ ) feels like a punch in the gut.

There’s an inn a little way down the road - Rayla can see the shape of it against the lightning - but they plod along in the mud with sagging shoulders and sore feet. It’s been a long journey. From here, she guesses it’ll only be a couple more days before they finally reach the lands of the Dragon Queen, which means their journey is that much closer to ending altogether.

Then Callum will go home.

And her? She still doesn’t know. All that she does know is that she’s scared of the idea of being alone - of being _without him_.

She doesn’t tell him that though. She says nothing, in fact, and when he asks her questions, her answers are clipped and short. At last, when they cross the front of the old wooden inn, Callum seizes her wrist and spins her to face him.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

Rayla doesn’t quite look at him when she answers. “It’s nothing.”

He frowns at her and holds her hands in his. It pulls at something in her chest and Rayla ducks her head, trying to keep her breathing steady and her heart quiet. “Rayla,” he says gently, over the soft _pitter-patter_ of the rain against the shillings. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“I -” She swallows. She what? She doesn’t even know. She takes a breath. “I’m not… ready for this to be over,” she mumbles. She doesn’t elaborate.

Callum studies her for a moment. She watches his face as it’s lit up by the storm, the green of his eyes dark and thoughtful before, at last, he unslings his sketchbook and presses it into her hands. “Have a look,” he says quietly - nervously, almost - if it were anyone else, she might have missed the waver in his voice, but he smiles like he’s trusting her with something precious and steps under the eaves and out of the rain.

 

 

Her heart beats in her throat as she opens it.

They’re all of Claudia at first. Claudia with a book pressed to her chest. Claudia, sitting contentedly under the shade of an old oak tree in the palace. Claudia with a cup of that hot-brown-morning potion she brews.

Rayla feels an odd pang in her chest. Jealousy, maybe? She’d always known he’d had a crush on her, but it’s worse seeing it so succinctly. He’d loved her, so of course she’d be the subject of so many of his works. But there are other sketches there too - one of a dragon, torching a dummy in front of a castle; three of his mother, smiling up at her with graphite lips; a couple of Bait and Ezran; some of Zym; the Moon Nexus; a bunch of landscapes; and -

Rayla’s breath hitches in her throat.

The rest are of her. Her, sitting by the fire with Zym in her lap; her, in a meadow, watching fireflies under the new moon; her, on the mountain pass looking pensive and thoughtful; her, happy, angry, sad -

Suddenly her heart is beating too quickly in her chest, her breath comes short, and her voice feels stuck in her throat. She looks up at Callum, and he smiles at her from under the eaves and holds out a hand. “You didn’t think you and I would just be done after we took Zym home, did you?”

She fumbles for words. “Callum - I -”

“It’s okay,” he says, tugging her out of the rain. “You don’t have to say anything.”

She gapes for a second longer before she decides he’s right.

So she doesn’t.

 

 

The elf at the reception of the inn barely looks at them twice before he gives Rayla a key and turns back to his reading. She’s glad, really - he doesn’t need to see the way her cheeks are flushed, or the way Callum's lips are swollen and red.

That’s their secret for now.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> 1) Soooo I know the request was for Rayla to have a sneaky look while she's camping out with Callum but I firmly believe that my two wholesome wonderful children trust each other implicitly and snooping is something Rayla actively doesn't do. I hope this is okay?????????
> 
> 2) This is kind of a companion to [mine to hold](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17837375). It doesn't have to be, but if you guys are interested, please do read its sort-of predecessor!


End file.
